Hurricane tracker prepares for new discoveries

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — August and September are typically the busiest months of any hurricane season. It’s the time hurricane trackers like UNCW graduate and North Carolina native Mark Sudduth prepare for year round.

Sudduth uses technology and a little bit of courage to his advantage as he records important data in the eye of a hurricane.

“The wind speed and the pressure and the video all captured together, it tells a really amazing story,” said Sudduth.

The goal is to provide researches with valuable numbers that can be analyzed. Sending tiny remote cameras into the storm helps scientists verify forecasts and improve models, while also providing an incredible piece of hurricane history.

“We can run this remote camera here for up to 30 hours just about anywhere along the coast right in the teeth of the hurricane.”

Over the last year, Sudduth developed the HURRB project.

“This will send a GPS beacon from the eye of the hurricane and beyond.”

The team will launch a weather balloon equipped with cameras 100,000 feet into the hurricane’s eye before falling back to Earth. HURRB will transmit information to a computer throughout its entire journey. It’s a journey Sudduth says would be a pioneer in new discoveries.

Over the past 15 years, Sudduth has tracked over 24 hurricanes. He says he never hopes for a hurricane, but is prepared to gather information when one hits.